[Days left until Doomsday: 74 Days and 22 Hours]
"Don’t make too much sound. What if we alert someone?" A man in his late forties spoke in a whispered tone, signaling his companions to stay silent and refrain from creating too much noise.
There were six of them, making their way to the staircase entrance of 20th floor of Building K12. All six of these men were residents of the lower floors. It was past two in the morning and they chose this time to spy on the mysterious residents of the top three floors.
"Are you sure you can open this metal door?" Another person among the six asked the man who was acting as their leader in this mission.
"Let me try first." Their leader returned as he took out a bunch of tools from the bag he was carrying and started using them to dismantle the lock of the metal door. It didn’t take too long before they all realized that it wasn’t that easy to either unlock or break the lock of the metal door.
"What now?" Another person from the group asked when their only plan of trespassing into the 20th floor failed terribly.
Before anyone could have answered, they heard the metal door suddenly unlocking. All six of them became alert, almost feeling scared for a moment as they all hid in the shadows on the staircase while the metal door was being pulled open from the other side.
There was a loud sound as the heavy door opened, but then a silence descended, leaving the six of them confused as no one stepped past the now opened door.
After certain long moments of silence had passed without any sort of movements, the six men finally stepped out of the shadows and into the clear view.
"What’s going on?" One of them asked, shifting his gaze between the open door and his companions. But no one had any idea about why the door suddenly opened on its own.
After hesitating for a few more moments, they finally started making their way toward the door. One after the other, they stepped past the door and in the dark hallway of 20th floor.
"Why the lights are off here?" One of them asked in a hushed voice while darting his gaze around in the darkness. All six of them were clustered together because of how weird the entire situation was.
Before any of them could have said or thought anything else, a light suddenly filled the hallway, illuminating the place. The six of them were so taken aback that they weren’t able to even react properly.
"Welcome."
A female voice suddenly entered their ears, forcing all six of them to turn their attention toward the door of the closest unit. They watched as the metal door of that apartment opened and a young woman stepped out into the hallway.
Looking at her, the six of them felt even more anxious. This woman looked... quite different. She was dressed in tight, black leather from head to toe. Her high pencil heels made clicking sound as she walked, and her long black hair was pulled back in a high ponytail. This wasn’t how a normal woman looked. Not at all!
"W-who are you?" The leader asked while trying to pull himself together and putting on a strong act when he realized that it was just a woman, even though she looked slightly abnormal because of how she was dressed at this late hour of the night.
A smile curved the corners of Valeska’s lips and she fixed her deadly gaze on that man, noticing how he immediately shivered as a clear sign of fear.
"I’m you host for the night." She answered his question as she leaned against the wall and kept her gaze fixed on the group of six very terrified men. She felt like chuckling when she noticed how hard they were trying to pretend to be strong despite their fear and anxiety.
"What host?" Another one of the men demanded, clearly confused by her words.
"Tsk tsk." Valeska continued with her dramatic act. "You all have come to my floor so late at night. Of course someone needs to be here to welcome you guys, right? So, I’m the one doing that job. But I’m really curious. What brought the six of you here at this hour of the night?"
The men exchanged looks among the six of them before their leader answered. "We just wanted to take a look at the top floors. We heard rumors that someone has set up metal doors to block the entrances here."
The accusation was loud and clear in his words, but it barely did anything to change the calmness that Valeska was carrying. Her smile didn’t falter even for a second as spoke, "Considering what you just said, I’m sure you all aren’t aware of this particular contract clause of this building. In that case, let me enlighten you guys tonight so that you will not make the same mistake again in the future."
Her words confused the men who once again exchanged looks between the six of them. Before they could have asked what she was talking about, Valeska was already speaking again.
"According to one of the contract clauses, the roof of this building can only be shared by the residents of the 22nd floor. And coincidentally, all these top three floors of this building are owned by the same person. In conclusion, the top three floors and the roof of this building are now completely owned by the people currently living here and has nothing to do with the rest of the residents of this building. We can do whatever we want here. We can install metal doors, barricades, or stop anyone from the lower floors from coming here. All these acts are legal as long as our agreement with the real estate company will last."
This was news for the six men. All they knew was that some residents had moved into the apartments of the top three floors in the past few weeks. But they had no idea that all these residents were related and had rented all three floors.
"Is there still anything you guys want to say about our metal doors?" Valeska asked politely.